Bortus
Bortus is a Moclan Second Officer and Lieutenant Commander aboard the [[USS Orville|USS Orville]]. According to Admiral Halsey, Bortus served with the Orville under a previous captain as Second Officer prior to Ed Mercer assuming command.Episode One: Old Wounds He is mated to Klyden, who live together on the Orville with their son Topa. Bortus is portrayed by Peter Macon. Early history Much of Bortus' background is unknown, including his childhood on the planet Moclus, his entry into the Planetary Union, and his experiences as an officer. Bortus dated his future mate Klyden on the planet Moclus. Their first date (or gomaska) consisted of an evening meal in the Moclan Central Arcade, followed by combat games in an environmental simulator.Episode 3: About a Girl Bortus was pleased with Klyden's combat skills: together they shot 339 simulated opponents. They became mates some time in the year 2413.Bortus testifies that Klyden and he became mates six and a half years prior. Because the date was at the tail end of the year 2419, that means they mated some time in 2413. Episode 3: About a Girl. Bortus was stationed aboard the [[USS Clemens|USS Clemens]] and Klyden decided to live with him on the ship.Episode 3: About a Girl Later, he was transferred to the Orville and Klyden followed. Bortus rose in rank to become Lieutenant Commander, and eventually promoted to the position of Second Officer on the Orville under a previous, unidentified captain.Episode One: Old Wounds Career under Captain Mercer Bortus meets the new Captain of the Orville, Ed Mercer, in September, 2419, and Bortus quickly establishes himself as a competent Second Officer, even successfully leading the Orville in combat as acting commander several times.Episode 1: Old Wounds Bortus is put in the captain's chair only several days after meeting his new superior officers, Mercer and Commander Kelly Grayson. After two commanders take an away team to the surface of the planet Epsilon 2. Bortus guides the Orville through a difficult battle with a significantly stronger Krill destroyer. Bortus is forced to utilize several highly dangerous flight maneuvers in order to survive: first authorizing Helmsman Gordon Malloy to "hug the donkey," a tactic used to distract the enemy from the ground team, and later orders the pilot to align the Shuttle Bay doors so that the ground team's shuttle could enter the ship safely, a second risky maneuver.Episode One: Old Wounds His daring leadership saves both the Orville and the ground team, though Bortus later believed that he failed Mercer because the Krill managed to heavily damage the ship.Bortus tells the Captain that he failed him for this reason after Mercer returns to the Bridge. Episode 1: Old Wounds Around November or December of 2419, Bortus re-assumes command of the Orville when the Captain and the First Officer enter the Dorahl bioship. He is forced to abandon temporarily the away team to rescue the [[USS Druyan|USS Druyan]], a colony transport under attack from the Krill. Bortus leads the Orville to victory against the Krill destroyer, then returns to the bioship. By this point, Bortus spent more time in the commander's chair during battle than any other Bridge officer aside from the Captain himself. Time would come for Bortus to prove hmself once again. In the winter of 2420, Captain Mercer and Commander Grayson fall under the influence of Darulio's pheremones, Bortus is forced to liaise between the Navarians and Bruidians. War nearly breaks out between the two species; Bortus, Isaac, and Engineering attempt to erect a barrier between them to buy time, though the plan ultimately fails. Fortunately, Darulio instructs Medical to use his pheremones on the Navarian and Bruidian ambassadors. The ambassadors fall in love with each other and call an end to the hostilities. Leave of Absence One month into his tenure under Mercer, Bortus and his mate, Klyden, lay and nest an egg. The brooding period forces Bortus to take a 21-day leave of absence, which proves to be a fateful decision. Shortly into his leave, Grayson and Mercer take a shuttle to what they assumed was the [[USS Blériot|USS Blériot]], making Chief of Security Alara Kitan the highest ranking officer and acting commander. At only 23 years, Kitan is by far the least experienced Bridge officer. The Blériot is actually a Calivon buoy with a holographic projector designed to create the appearance of the Union ship. The buoy kidnaps Grayson and Mercer once they enter. Kitan runs to Bortus' quarters and pleads with him to take command. Bortus refuses: "I will not risk the life of my child." Kitan manages to retrieve the kidnapped commanders after disobeying orders from admiralty, but Kitan's mistakes caused significant damage to the ship and jeopardized her position in the Union. After the gestation period is complete, Bortus and Klyden eagerly await the hatching of their egg. They are stunned to see their newborn is a female. Sex reassignment of Topa The birth of the child proves to cause problems on the ship and strains his relations with his husband and with the rest of the crew. In Moclan society, the Moclan female sex is not only rare, but derided as aberrant and disgusting. Rather than force their child to live the life of an outcast, Bortus and his mate attempt the surgically alter the child's sex from female to male. Bortus is refused by Doctor Claire Finn and Mercer denies his request to order the Doctor to perform it. "My world is different than yours," Bortus objects. "I was hoping you would respect that." Bortus believes an immediate operation is necessary, before the child develop further as a female, and goes behind the Captain's back to hail a Moclan vessel to take the child and perform the surgery. Mercer is furious with Bortus and Grayson tries to show Bortus that the debacle has jeopardized Moclus' position in the Planetary Union, but Bortus and Klyden believe they had no choice. Mercer relieves Bortus of duty. Fellow commanding officers attempt to change Bortus' mind. Kitan takes Bortus boxing. She easily defeats him in the ring to show him that, on a person-by-person basis, women can be superior to men in certain things. Bortus is angry and, perhaps, embarrassed, and leaves to his quarters. Malloy and Navigator John LaMarr greet Bortus with beer and the movie Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The attempt succeeds: "Without Rudolph's nose, Santa would not be able to complete his voyage... What was clearly a deformity became a supreme advantage. One could never know." Bortus attempts to convert Klyden, but his mate is adamant the operation proceed. When Bortus learns that Klyden was born female, he is shocked and hurt that his mate hid such information from him for years. Trial Bortus meets Captain Vorak in the briefing room alongside Grayson and Mercer. Vorak implies a threat against Mercer; Bortus defuses the situation by formally requesting Tribunal for an injunction staying the procedure. It is a two week trip to planet Moclus. Bortus, Klyden, and the child stay on the Moclan vessel for their trip. The tribunal pits Bortus against his mate. Bortus requests Grayson to serve as his advocate, who squares off against Advocate Kagus. The trial lasts several days, but the council finds insufficient cause to enjoin the operation and the child's sex is change to male shortly after. After the trial In a private conversation with Captain Mercer and Commander Grayson, Bortus reaffirms his love for his mate, no matter the outcome. After the operation is performed and back aboard the Orville, Bortus names the child Topa and tells Klyden that they must work together to give their son the best life he can have. The trial created an emotional rift between the two. A month later, Bortus has begun working increasing hours, and avoiding discussing the matter with Klyden.Episode Four: If the Stars Should Appear Klyden begins persistent over-eating.Episode 9: Cupid's Dagger Personality .]] Similar to other members of his species, Bortus carries a serious, formal demeanor, and he values combat ability and strength above other characteristics.Bortus is first attracted to Klyden's high score in the combat simulator. Episode 3: About a Girl. More so than other Moclans, he is career-focused to the point that he is away from his family. Bortus approaches conversations coldly and logically, often misunderstanding jokesHe does not understand the humor in Mercer's aside about urination at night during staff role call. Episode 1: Old Wounds.Bortus fails to see why "dibs on the omelet" is funny. Episode 2: Command Performance. and rarely breaking decorum even in casual situations.Bortus does not understand why Mercer would make a social call. Episode 12: Mad Idolatry. For this reason, non-Moclans often struggle to communicate properly with him. Nevertheless, Bortus does have a sense of humor, finding slapstick humor to be genuinely amusing.Bortus agrees with Malloy that slapstick humor is funny. Episode 5: Pria. Bortus is hard on himself, believing any result less than perfect is failure. For example, in the episode Old Wounds, as acting commander, Bortus was able to save the Orville from destruction at the hands of a superior Krill ship. Yet he later confesses to Mercer that he failed the Captain, because the Krill were able to destroy the upper spatial tensor coil. This is further illustrated by his confession in Firestorm that his greatest fear is to lose to a superior opponent. Perhaps one of the most notable attributes is that Bortus does not follow Planetary Union directives or social mores if those standards conflict with his own highly-developed personal moral code. For example, Bortus has no problem going behind Captain Mercer's back to call for a Moclan vessel to perform a sex reassignment of his child.Episode 3: About a Girl Bortus' reasoning is that failure to change his child's sex would lead to her living the life of an outcast in Moclan society, a result that would be far worse than a broken Union rule. Bortus's moral vision is sharply criticized by Commander Grayson, who accuses Bortus of "failing to see" that his actions jeopardized relations between Moclus and the rest of the Planetary Union. Relationship with Klyden Bortus loves his mate Klyden deeply, but their relationship grows strained after the tribunal over their child's sex drives a wedge between them. After the child's sex is reassigned, the couple begin to argue when they had not before. According to Bortus, the two fight constantly when together which begins to disrupt his sleep. Bortus spends increasing amounts of time at work and less time with the family, sometimes showing up to work an hour ahead of schedule to avoid arguments.Episode 4: If the Stars Should Appear during a private moment, he confides in Doctor Claire Finn that "all we do is fight; Klyden will not stop eating; the child never sleeps; and we have not resumed normal relations."Episode 9: Cupid's Dagger She advises that the first year after a child's birth is difficult for all parties, but Klyden and he will find a "rhythm." Relationship with the crew Bortus ends up an unwitting part of a prank on Lieutenant Yaphit by Malloy and LaMarr. At a good-bye party for Chief Engineer Steve Newton, the pilots place a piece of Yaphit in a cake, a piece of which Bortus eats. Yaphit is forced to retrieve his body part by entering Bortus' stomach through the mouth. Bortus and Klyden invite Mercer for an evening of apsada, a Moclan beverage, and a game of latchcomb. Production Early character drafts The character of Bortus was introduced in the pilot script by April, 2016, though his lines were changed from that time until the show's premiere in September, 2017. He is described as "a thick, broad, very alien-looking humanoid with a rippling epidermis that looks like hardened lava" and works in the Ship's Armory--a position that was eliminated by the time the show aired.MacFarlane, Seth. Orville 1x01 - Pilot. Fox Broadcasting Co. In an early draft of Old Wounds, Bortus claims to be a proud warrior to Mercer and that he does not dance because it is a "foolish waste of stamina." Later, he allows LaMarr to play a slapstick video of a cat attacking a human. The Bridge crew cackles but Bortus simply calls the cat a brave warrior. Costume and makeup The physical design of the character took substantially longer to complete than other characters. Early looks of Bortus included an extremely wide neck and chin; another a far more recessed nose. Special Make-up Effects Artist Howard Berger presented a final head sculpture to creator Seth MacFarlane by November, 2016, for approval so production of the prosthetic make-up could begin.Bond, Jeff. The World of the Orville. Titan Books. 78. Berger explained: Bortus had a big evolution. The initial design process was pretty long for Bortus. It was at least a five month period. Once Peter Macon was hired, we brought him into KNB and we live-cast him so we had his head and we could sculpt on that. And we went through a couple different versions, we never quite hit it. . . . I set up a little sculpting area, and I just sat and sculpted for like three or four hours with Seth MacFarlane, and we finally hit on what Bortus's look was.''Special video played at "Seth MacFarlane and behind-the-scenes creative team: "The Orville" | Talks at Google". Talks at Google. Nov. 16, 2017. The face prosthetics are in three pieces: a head cowl made of foam rubber, a chin piece, and a face piece, all blended in with the actor's skin. Additionally, Macon wears a foam rubber body piece. Trivia * He has a fear of being overwhelmed by a stronger opponent,Episode 10: Firestorm which may explain his unexpectedly emotional reaction to losing to Alara Kitan at boxing.Episode 3: About a Girl * Though he is only Second Officer, Bortus has spent more time as acting captain than any other Bridge officer aside from the Captain himself. * According to Peter Macon (Bortus), Bortus is fascinated by the "zaniness of his fellow crewmembers."Bond, Jeff. ''The World of the Orville. Titan Books. 2018. Pg. 74. Appearances *''Episode 1: Old Wounds'' *''Episode 2: Command Performance'' *''Episode 3: About a Girl'' *''Episode 4: If the Stars Should Appear'' *''Episode 5: Pria'' *''Episode 6: Krill'' *''Episode 7: Majority Rule'' *''Episode 8: Into the Fold'' *''Episode 9: Cupid's Dagger'' *''Episode 10: Firestorm'' *''Episode 11: New Dimensions'' *''Episode 12: Mad Idolatry'' References Category:Orville Crew Category:Moclans